Ford badge engineered the Japanese-built Mazda B-Series as the Courier starting in 1971, renaming it the Ranger in 1998; the Courier nameplate was retained in Australasia until 2006. Second-generation models from 2006 to 2011 were also designed by Mazda, being rebadged versions of the successor to the B-Series, the BT-50.

Third-generation models, as produced since 2011, were designed and engineered by Ford Australia, with Mazda offering a derivative version of the Ford as the second generation BT-50. The Ford Ranger is also the basis for the Ford Everest SUV and therefore, the Ranger and the Everest share a number of features. Ford's affiliate, Jiangling Motors, builds a model based on the Ford Ranger called the JMC Yuhu for the Chinese market. On 19 August 2015, Ford started producing the Ranger in China in partnership with JMC.